Twin Tacticians
by Silver559
Summary: They woke up in the middle of the field with no memory and taken in by Chrom as the Shepherd's tacticians. Their adventure as tacticians of the young prince's corps is very interesting to say the least. With war inevitable for Ylisse's future, these twin tacticians have a duty to save Ylisse and possibly the World. AU novelization of Awakening.
1. Chapter 1: Amnesiac Twins

**Well I've decided to write this story. I have been wanting to write it for a while, and I'm going to be taking this one as seriously as I can** **and really hope to have a beta/proof reader for both grammatical errors and confusing wording. I am looking for a beta-reader, so if anyone wants to help me out, I'm happy to accept a few people if not one.**

 **These chapters are going to be long, and may take more than a week to write depending on how my life goes later on.**

 **Enjoy the first chapter.**

* * *

A blue-haired man charged with his sword pointing forward; to the sorcerer who began parrying the swordsman's blows with dark magic that blocked the blades. The observer looked down at his own hand as he charged up a lightning spell to help assist the blue-haired swordsman, but once he looked up the sorcerer blinked out of existence and the blue-haired man pointed his sword to the ceiling, shouting, "Up there!"

The observer looked up to see the black magic user at the ceiling and launched his lightning strike to the snake-eyed man who just disappeared as the lightning ball hit him, causing the spell to explode on the ceiling saying, "Fool!"

In a moment, the seasoned dark mage had launched a wave of dark energy at the blue-haired man who was launched into a pillar and began propping himself up with a sword. The dark mage was laughing as a giant ball of dark magic appeared in his palms and he slung it at the blue-haired swordsman shouting, "Die!"

The cloaked observer shot a lightning spell to the dark ball to nullify it and a bright flash of light appeared. When the blinding light had vanished, the man looked up and noticed his cloak was off. A lock of white hair covered his face and the sorcerer stared at him with a face of disgust, but the observer quickly turned around and ran to the blue-haired man. The sorcerer was granting them a quick respite, he was over by an alter where he was now drawing power from the table.

The clash of battle could be heard outside the barrier that separated them from their comrades, but neither of them could possibly know how the battle was going until they defeated this man. In that moment, the blue-haired man...no, Chrom, looked at him and said, "This is it, our final battle. You're one of us Robin, and no "destiny" can change that. Now let's kill this dastard and be done with it!"

"Fools! You cannot unwrite what has already been written! Submit yourselves," the sorcerer shouted as he held out his hand. In that moment, a bubbling sound could be heard as a magic circle formed under Chrom's feet.

"Chrom watch out!" Robin shouted as he pushed Chrom out of the way of the magic circle. In that moment an explosion of dark magic that resembled a blob of goo for just a moment appeared and exploded in dark energy.

"Come on Robin, we have to get closer," Chrom said as he began running towards the dark mage. Robin silently followed as he pulled out his tome and flipped through the pages. Which spell? Which spell would be best in this case? He was scanning and eventually found the Thoron spell which he began preparing in his hand. Chrom had already charged over, and the dark magic fencing began anew.

Robin noticed that Chrom began to make a few strikes on the dark mage, but they were no more than cuts. Robin then got an idea. He ran around and flanked the dark mage and called him out. Snake eyes immediately turned to him, but only to be shot as a highly charged Thoron spell made its way to the dark mage. The dark mage tried to block it with his dark magic, but the charge on the spell was so great that it went straight through the man's stomach.

Robin drew a steel sword from his belt and with Chrom he charged to the dark mage and both of them delivered a fatal stab to his chest in a dual blow. Immediately, the man screamed in agony and a pulse of dark magic flew out from him and drove both Robin and Chrom back.

The moment both had gotten up, the sorcerer was kneeling down while being consumed by purple flames. Chrom looked at Robin and gave a smile, but this was short lived when the sorcerer looked up at them with glowing red eyes with blood dripping out of his mouth as the purple flames grew in intensity.

"This isn't over! Damn you both!" he shouted as a massive ball of dark magic fueled by vengeance came flying at Chrom. Time immediately seemed to slow down for Robin as he looked at the ball and ran over to Chrom. Once he was there, he pushed Chrom out of the way as a horrified expression appeared on the man's face, realizing that Robin was sacrificing himself to him. In that moment, everything went white for Robin as he felt his body fly through the air and land with a hard thud on the stone floor.

The moment he opened his eyes, Robin saw Chrom running to his side and helping him up. Both of them looked at where the evil mage had been, his entire purple flame vanishing with no trace of his body in sight, of course they all assumed he was dead.

"Thanks to you, it's over, and now we can finally rest," Chrom said as he helped Robin stand up. As Robin did so he felt a little funny. He felt his senses numb and his vision glassed over with red, as if the world wasn't real and he was watching it through red glass. Soon, he ceased to move and he struggled, struggled to break free. Chrom immediately took notice of this and asked, "Hey, what's wrong?" But Chrom quickly figured it out, just as the foreign entity inside Robin's mind began to test his fingers and actions. Robin only had control of his face now and he panicked. He wanted to move away, but the damnable entity was controlling his body. "Hey hang on-"

Chrom's words were cut short by a loud and wet sound of flesh being parted and armor ripping. Chrom's face looked pale and pained, but once he started walking away, Robin felt the presence fade from his mind. He looked at Chrom's chest to see a blade of lightning piercing a vital area. It sparked and ended up being so potent that blood was pouring out of the area at an alarming rate. Robin looked at his own shaking hands to find electricity still pulsing through them. Robin was speechless as he stared at Chrom with a gaping wide mouth, clearly a face of terror as he looked at his own hand then Chrom.

"Robin, this is not...your fault. Promise me...that you'll...escape from this place. Go..." Chrom said as he coughed out blood in between pauses, but then the life left his eyes; they no longer had emotion or focus. Chrom collapsed on the ground with blood pooling around him as he lied there, staring lifelessly at nothing. In that moment, Robin heard the dark mage laughing inside his head, he covered his head and screamed, and it quickly turned to sobbing as he looked down at Chrom. How could he have done this?

" _It wasn't your fault, it was his fault,"_ a voice separate from the dark mage said to Robin in his head. A familiar voice that he had heard countless times. Robin looked at the dark mage who was walking over to to Robin with a huge grin on his face, but Robin's voice continued.

" _Do you want power? The power to avenge your friend? I can give it to you. All you have to do is take the power being drawn to the table."_

Robin wordlessly agreed and Validar was shocked to see the power of the alter slowly gathering to Robin, but he quickly grinned ear to ear and began laughing. It was finally coming true, his long held destiny was fully realized. Validar continued to laugh, but in that instance, his body was impaled, not by a sword nor by lightning magic, but by a dark spike that came from the ground. He was shocked and asked Robin "why" after coughing up blood. Robin didn't answer, he instead brought more spikes up and impaled every part of Validar.

"Robin!" a shout from behind came. Robin turned around to see a woman with black hair and a pony tail running to him. He wasted no time kicking the fallen man's sword to her and saying, "I don't have much time left and you may not either. Run. Run away and save them. Our comrades need-" he began before a presence within him took over and shook his entire body to the core. Once this had happened, Robin stood up straight and looked at the woman with a sinister smile.

* * *

"But Chrom we have to do SOMETHING," the voice of a young girl said as Robin's consciousness slowly recovered.

"Well, what do you propose we do?" a very familiar masculine voice said. Robin opened his eyes wider at this voice and saw two people. The blue-haired man from his dream just a moment ago and a twin-tailed blonde in a yellow dress holding a staff of sorts.

"I-I don't know," the girl said as she stuttered. "My healing magic isn't working, there are no visible wounds."

"Ugh..." a voice beside Robin said as he covered his head which felt really weird. He ended up making the same noise as well. This quickly caught the attention of the two standing over him and whoever was next to him. Both the man and the woman knelt down with relieved smiles.

"I see you two are awake now," the blue-haired man said gently.

"Hey there," the girl said with a giggle.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, give me you hand," Chrom said as he held out his hands to Robin and whoever else was with him. They were both up and once they were firmly standing, Chrom asked if they were alright.

"Yes, thank you, Chrom," they both said simultaneously. This caused them to look at each other and stare for a moment. Both of them noticed one thing immediately. They were both wearing the same cloak. Aside from that they were both the same height and same age. The only different things about them was their gender and their hair. The female had black hair tied up into a ponytail while the male had short white hair.

"So, you know who I am then?" the blue-haired man asked in order to both gain their attention and understand why they were unconscious in the middle of a field.

"No, you're name it just came to me," both Robin and the woman said simultaneously.

"Interesting, what brings you two here?"

"Well..." both began at the same time again. Chrom started looking at them a little strangely, but let them continue on anyway. "I don't know."

"Can you remember your names?" Chrom asked to try and leak out that much.

"Well...I don't know," Robin and the woman said at the same time; however, the next sentence belonged to the woman who said, "I'm sorry, but where are we?"

"Hey! I've heard of this. It's called amnesia!" the young girl shouted as she had the sudden realization of what was going on.

"It's called a load of pegasus dung," a man clad in blue armor said with a very skeptical expression on his face as he looked at the two strangers. "Are we to remember that you remember milord's name and not your own?"

"But it's the truth!" the woman quickly exclaimed with a desperate look on her face.

"And what if its true, Frederick?" Chrom asked as he turned his head to the armor-clad man. "We can't leave them here alone and confused, what kind of Shepherds would we be then?"

"Just the same milord. Caution must be emphasized, for it would not be wise to let a wolf into our flock."

"Fine...we'll take them to town and sort this out there," Chrom said to Frederick who seemed pleased with the answer.

"Wait! Don't we get a say in this?" the white-haired man of the strangers asked as he began to panic for a second.

"Peace, friend, we'll hear all you have to say once we return to the town. Come with us."

The group walked down a path for quite a while. As they walked, several thoughts popped into the black-haired woman's mind. Why did they have to go back like this? Sure they may have friendly intentions, but the armored man sitting on his horse with a lance holstered on the side did not seem welcoming at all.

"Just what do you plan to do with us? Are we your prisoners or something?" the black-haired woman asked. She cast her gaze down as she frowned. She was clearly not happy to be dragged against her will to the town, but the man with her seemed so calm, but somehow she knew that he was pretty wrecked inside. Fidgeting with his cloak, dilated eyes, and a very straight posture, she knew these were all signs that this specific man was nervous, but why did she know such details about him?

"Don't worry, you'll be free to go once we've established you're no enemy of Ylisse," Chrom said with a kind smile to try and reassure the woman questioning him.

"Is that where we are? Ylisse?" the white-haired man asked calmly. He seemed intrigued, but that was short lived when Frederick stepped into the conversation once again.

"You've never heard of the Halidom? Ha! Someone pay this actor, for he plays quite the fool!" Frederick said sarcastically to insult the white-haired man. Of course the white-haired man was frowning at Frederick for such a rude comment, but he said nothing which gave the stern knight the chance to say, "The furrowed brow is especially convincing."

"Give him a break! He's asking questions like any other person would if they had no memory!" the woman shouted.

"Oh, forgive me, I did not know acting was a serious ailment, or perhaps you mean to say he is delusional," Frederick remarked. The woman balled her fists and gritted her teeth at this. Who did this man think he was? Sure he could be skeptical, but there was no reason to shame them like this.

"Both of you, please," Chrom said as he stepped between the eye sight of the two. "Especially you Frederick, that was uncalled for."

Frederick bowed with respect to Chrom and said not another word, but his staring at the woman sent shivers up her spine. Why was this man so scary?

"This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the Exalt. I suppose proper introductions are in order. My name is Chrom, but you already knew that. The stern one over there is Frederick, and the delicate little girl here is my little sister, Lissa," Chrom explained to both strangers.

"Hey! I am not delicate!" Lissa shouted as she stomped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms. She gave a very big "humph" as well with puffed cheeks, making her look even more like a little girl. Then she returned to her normal composure and said, "Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick sometimes."

"I know, right? Take my brother for example. I can throw him several signals, but sometimes he reads people like an open book!" the woman said as she punched the white-haired man in the shoulders playfully.

"You two are siblings?" Chrom asked curiously. It was kind of shocking, how they remembered certain specifics and things they shouldn't know, it surprised and intrigued Chrom greatly.

"Yes, I'm Raven and this is my twin brother, Robin."

"Odd how we've remembered that much," Robin said as he looked up to the sky. "I really wonder if we'll remember anything else, because I'm not remembering anything more."

"Well, just be glad the Shepherds found you, bandits or brigands would have been a really rude awakening," Lissa said with a happy smile in an attempt to be optimistic. It was really welcoming to Robin, but he also had to point something out about what Lissa had said.

"Shepherds? You tend sheep in full armor?" Robin asked with a curious tone to his voice.

"Yes, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the wary over here," Chrom said so as to playfully jab Frederick.

"It's a title I'll wear with honor. Someone must keep an appropriate level of caution in this group as well," Frederick remarked to Chrom's comment.

"I understand, but what we honestly say is the truth," Raven said with a tinge of nervousness in her voice. Frederick was so intimidating, she found it hard to believe that such a man was among these two siblings who were quite welcoming in comparison to this man who would love nothing more than to send them away or worse.

"Well, once we get to town we'll sort this whole issue out," Chrom said in order to comfort Raven a little more. She was clearly very nervous about what was going to happen to her and her brother. Chrom understood her concern too, he had gone through some similar problems before. "We're almost to town, so just rest easy."

"Chrom! Look at the town!" Lissa shouted as she ran up a hill where smoke was rising from. In that moment, Chrom ran up the hill with everyone following him as well. The town was ablaze. Some buildings had already burned down completely, but Chrom could easily make out people fleeing from the town in terror. Bandits were clearly running amok as they looted and torched. They were at the town's central square where they were looting stalls and breaking into various shops and homes.

"Gods! It has to be the brigands. Frederick, Lissa, we need to get down there now!" Chrom shouted as he began running to the town.

"Milord, what about these two?" Frederick hurriedly asked. Chrom stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at Frederick with a slightly angry tone as if the answer should be obvious.

"Unless they're on fire too, they can wait," Chrom shouted then ordered Frederick to come along so they could catch up with Lissa who was unarmed and farther ahead.

"Wait-" Raven began before looking down at the ground and thinking of something. She made her decision and turned around to her brother to say, "We need to help them! I don't know why, but we just need to help!" Before Robin could answer, Raven was already running to the town, and because of this action Robin found himself with no choice but to follow her. She was right, they had to help. He couldn't place his finger on why, but he had to help Chrom.

It didn't take long before the two siblings were in the town. They were rushing through the outer areas of the town, most of the central town was paved, but most of the residential areas outside were not. Most of the outside area was farming, but the town was actually quite small if one really looked at it. Robin estimated it to be a mere kilometer or two in length, but the entirety of the paved areas might have been half a kilometer, or a quarter of a mile in Raven's book.

The moment the two siblings reached the square where Chrom and his small party of three were, they witnessed Frederick and Chrom squaring off against some bandits. Frederick was handling a myrmidon and a mercenary while Chrom faced off with a barbarian wielding an axe while Lissa was hiding behind some crates of vegetables. The barbarian made a simple mistake, but Chrom was able to use that one mistake to plunge his sword into the man's chest and kill him.

"Chrom!" Raven shouted as she ran to the blue-haired swordsman. Chrom turned around in shock to see Raven and Robin running up to them at a great speed.

"By the gods, what are you two doing here!" Chrom shouted as his attention turned to Raven.

"I-I don't know I just wanted to help and-" Raven began, but her voice was cut short the moment Robin.

"Chrom, we're armed!" he said pulling out a dagger and a tome. "We can help, so please let us do so!"

"Is that a tome? You know magic?" Chrom asked Robin who then opened his tome and questionably looked through it.

"I think so..."

"You think so? Well I guess I better stay out of your way," Chrom said as he moved to get out of Robin's direct line of sight.

"No! I'm sure of it," Robin said as he opened his tome and flipped through the spells. Eventually it ended up turning into a "dammit how does this thing work" every time he looked through the pages.

"Chrom! Watch out!" Raven shouted as she drew her dagger and ran up to Chrom who was being charged behind by a mercenary. Raven blocked the mercenary's sword with her dagger, but the combined force of the iron blade's weight and muscle was a little much for her to handle, but an "Aha!" was heard from Robin and a ball of lightning smashed into the mercenary. The man was knocked down and Raven took the chance to stab his heart and steal his iron sword. With a sword in hand she felt much more confident, but she also glared at her brother who just dusted off his cloak as if nothing happened because that magic lightning bolt was a pure lucky coincidence.

"Well you seem able enough, I only have Frederick and myself, so it wouldn't be the wisest decision to take on a bunch of bandits on our own," Chrom said with a warm smile as he welcomed them as comrades in arms.

"Yeah! Hey, let's go get a sword for you too, Robin!" Raven said as she ran off with her new sword and began dueling with another bandit so she could take his sword.

"Chrom, do you know where the other bandits are?" Robin asked as they took advantage of the small respite they had.

"Yes, Frederick found a large number of them by the church, but they seem to be staying in that area, looting the market."

Robin had a quick thought. Could they flank the leader? If they could flank the leader or flank his forces, it would provide a good distraction so that Frederick and Chrom could take out the leader.

"Hey Chrom. Call Frederick, I have a plan," Robin said to Chrom. Chrom nodded and went to find Frederick, he wouldn't have to go far, but there was a small moment to be had between the two siblings.

"Guess who!" Raven said cheerfully as she covered Robin's eyes with a sheathed sword.

"Dammit Raven! This isn't the time for games!" Robin shouted as he grabbed the sword out of Raven's hands. He turned around to give it back to her, but noticed she was still holding her looted sword. He quietly accepted the sword and told Raven about his plan.

"Really? Something so simple? Why not taunt them as well? While I was messing around with that bandit, I saw a bridge leading to the church, maybe we could use that to funnel the bandits and flank them from behind that way. Stick them on the bridge so they have nowhere to go.

"Yeah, but we don't have enough people for a pincer attack of that magnitude. How about this, insult them and get them on the bridge and I'll move in from behind to take out any ranged units."

"Nice!" Raven said with a thumbs-up. That's when Frederick was coming back. There were bandits in his way and each time he passed them, his lance swiped them and killed them instantly. He was jumping over barrels and crates as well as corpses until he killed the last bandit in his way, jumped over a dead body and skidded to a halt right in front of the two siblings. Chrom came close behind afterwords.

 _Show off_ Robin thought as he watched that scene Frederick had pulled off.

 _Wow, that was pretty cool,_ Raven though on the other hand.

Once everyone had gathered, Robin and Raven explained their plans and Chrom agreed to them. The team who would strike from behind against the ranged units would be Robin and Lissa. Lissa was there only because it kept her out of immediate danger and gave Robin a healer.

Robin and Lissa ran around the cathedral and Robin ended up killing anyone who got in their way, but he also found a towns-person and advised them to start putting out the fires because if it spread, the bandits would be the least problematic thing.

Robin peered around the cathedral's corner and saw Raven trying to insult the bandit's leader.

"Come over here and fight us! Stop standing over there like a chicken!" Raven shouted. Robin nearly slapped his own palm onto his forehead, but it was entertaining enough to the bandit leader becase he began having his minions cross over the bridge, and just as Robin expected, the archers and mages stayed on the other side.

Robin quietly sneaked up behind one archer and stabbed his sword straight through the man, and kicked him into the river running through the town. The other man, a mage, saw Robin and began firing spells in his direction. Robin managed to dodge most of the first round, but a stray wind spell still managed to injure his left arm. Then he decided it was his turn and fired a flame spell straight at the man.

The mage was distracted by the fire spell and while he was able to survive it, Robin charged ahead and stabbed the mage with his sword.

"Hey! When the hell did you come from behind?" a bandit said as he spotted Robin stabbing the mage. The bandit charged Robin and without any time to strike a spell due to pulling the sword out of the mage's body, Robin had to initiate a duel with the bandit in which Robin had received a slash on his chest which proved to be quite a wound, but he was saved by a spell from Raven; however, Robin was losing quite a bit of blood and he was in a lot of pain.

"Lissa! Some help over here!" Robin shouted.

"Right! We'll see whose delicate! With my trust healing staff I can-"

"Just heal my damn wound! It hurts," Robin yelled as he clutched his chest in pain. Lissa was taken aback by this for a second but nonetheless hurried over to Robin and healed him as fast as she could. Robin felt his wound seal up, but some of the pain was still there. Must be his mind hadn't yet caught up to the repair, but whatever, he could still fight.

Raven laughed from the other side of the bridge, but she turned her attention back to the bandit leader who she and Chrom were squaring off with. He was quite skilled. He was able to take them both on for a time, but if it weren't for Raven's occasional magic assault, the leader probably wouldn't have fallen as quickly as he did. The last time Raven hit the leader with a wind spell, Chrom sent his blade straight through the breastbone like it was made of butter.

"It's over..." Raven said as she immediately collapsed on the ground. "Praise whatever gods there are! It's over!"

"Well what about the burning buildings...?" Chrom asked, but as he looked around, the only burning thing was a wooden stall thanks to Raven's miss with fire magic.

"I had the villagers take care of that," Robin said as he walked forward.

"Swords, sorcery, and tactics! You two are awesome!" Lissa shouted with excitement.

"Yeah, we are," Raven remarked as she gladly accepted the boost to her ego. Robin sighed as he listened to his sister, but that was quickly broken by Chrom.

"Milord, did you notice that the bandits spoke with a Plegian accent?" Frederick asked Chrom as he rode up to the group.

"Yes I did Frederick, I just wasn't very surprised by it. Most of these things happen thanks to them anyway."

"Plegia?" Raven asked with a brow raised to the conversation. Luckily, Chrom had decided to speak up far before Frederick could mock her or Robin again.

"Ylisse's western neighbors. They like to send raiding parties and bandits across our borders. Their hopes are to invoke war with us."

"And it's always the poor townspeople who suffer..." Lissa said gloomily as she looked towards the ground with her staff.

"Do not be so disheartened milady. That's why they have us: Shepherds to protect the sheep," Frederick stated simply with little emotion or sympathy to his words.

"I know Frederick, but it's just that...it's sad it has to happen in the first place. I don't like all this death and destruction," Lissa said as she tried to make a typical child's argument that seemed to just be them wanting to have the last word.

"Don't forget you were the one begging to come with us," Chrom remarked to Lissa.

"Don't worry big brother! I'll be getting used to this," Lissa said semi-cheerfully as she waved her hands around. It seemed to work in eliminating most of the glum attitude she had, but everyone could see that Lissa still had some lingering gloominess.

"Robin, Raven," Chrom said as he turned to the twins. "I have an offer to make you. Both of you seem to be very gifted in tactics and combat, so I would like to ask this: How would you two like to become Shepherds?"

Everyone except for Chrom and Lissa were surprised in that moment. Robin and Raven were looking over at each other with wide eyes and seeming to debate it with an unspoken language between their heads. It didn't take them long though, both of the siblings answered a cheerful affirmative to the request.

"Milord! Are you sure this is a wise decision? We have little knowledge of these strangers," Frederick pleaded to Chrom.

"Frederick, they saved Ylissean lives, and my heart says that is enough," Chrom protested. It was clear that he was going to make sure these two joined the Shepherds one way or another. "Besides, Plegia is always a few steps ahead before we manage to catch them. If we need anything, it's tactics."

"Excuse me, Milord. I spoke out of turn."

After the conversation ended, a villager came running up to the Shepherds. What he said was, "My lords! You must stay the night, we're helpless townsfolk, but we will prepare a feast in your honor."

"Dark meat for me only please, well done, and no salt in the soup!" Lissa stated excitedly as she listed off all she wanted in the feast.

"I'm sorry, while your offer is most generous, I fear we must begin returning," Frederick addressed the villager with a smile.

"Wait, what?! Frederick, we're not staying the night? It's nearly dark!" Lissa asked with great shock and disappointment as Frederick brutally crushed her dreams of a nice feast in probably days.

"Yes, and then we will live off the land. Build a fire, forage food, and the like, and I do believe I once heard you saying something along the lines of 'getting used to this' if my memory serves me correct."

Lissa glared at Frederick for a long time with a very grumpy face versus his one with a great smile aimed at Lissa's anger. She continued to glare at the knight before stating, "Frederick, sometimes I hate you!"

"That sure is one stern lieutenant you have there," Robin commented to Chrom as the two of them watched the spectacle in front of them. Lissa was arguing with a silent Frederick swinging complaints and insults his way, but it only seemed to fuel his smile more.

"Frederick only smiles when he's about to drop the axe," Chrom said jokingly.

"Dully noted," Raven said as she walked over with an apple in hand.

"I hope you three realize that I'm still present," Frederick said to the three not being insulted by Lissa.

"Oh we realize," Chrom said with a jolly grin on his face. The twins chuckled at Chrom's comment and Frederick sighed to himself.

* * *

The five Shepherds soon left town and were taking a stroll through the woods as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. Trailing behind were the two amnesiac twins, solemnly staring at the horizon as if trying to comprehend something.

"Hey, Robin. Do you have this feeling? That all this is familiar in some way."

"What part, sister? The fact that we both knew Chrom's name or the fact that we just joined these 'Shepherds' as if it was the right thing to do?"

"Well...all of it. It's as if I feel close to these people, like I...already know them..."

"Leave it be Raven, I'm content to just enjoying whatever comes next. In fact, I haven't been feeling myself all day, but you seem pretty normal...I think."

"Yeah, we do feel like we know much about each other don't we. We have no memory and therefore we have no current purpose. I just have a feeling we'll be able to find out once we go with them. Until then, let's look to working as hard as we can on just being...whoever we are, how do you feel about that?"

"I couldn't have said better, now let's just concentrate on marching, I think we're falling behind."

"What makes you say that?" Raven asked before she looked at the trio ahead of them looking back and waiting. "Oh...yeah, let's focus on marching. Hut two three four, hut two three four!"

 _At least one of us is feeling optimistic, I just can't shake that weird dream…_ Robin thought as he began walking faster and catching up to the others. Perhaps he shouldn't worry about it, but it did make him question Chrom's sense in picking Raven and him up off the streets. Just the dream in general was a real headache. _I should just give up thinking about it._


	2. Chapter 2: Cataclysm

"See? I told you Frederick!" Lissa stated grumpily as she finally noticed after half an hour that the sun had set that it was dark. She had been fed up with all the bugs coming for her. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? "Now the bugs are out, gross, icky, nasty bugs that fly all over you and-" Lissa said when an insect flew into her mouth and she began wildly spitting and cughing. "Ugh I think I swallowed it."

"Now, now Lissa, hardship builds character," Chrom said with a warm smile to his sister who was freaking out over a little insect.

"Well I've had enough character building for one day!" Lissa pouted as she crossed her arms and refused to move from the spot.

"I think it's time to set up camp," Raven said as she slapped a mosquito that perched on her arm. "It's dark and the blood suckers are coming out."

"It seems a little hunting and gathering is in order. I'll gather the firewood," Frederick replied. "Care to join me milady?"

"I'm fine on collecting firewood, thanks," Lissa said grumpily as she sat down and slapped every bug that came near her.

"Robin, what do you say we go hunt some food?" Chrom asked Robin. Robin agreed and the two went deep into the woods to find some food.

It was very dark in the forest at night. Robin couldn't see much. He could only see about ten meters ahead of himself. He was wondering what else was hunting this late at night. He sure hoped he wasn't on the menu.

"Chrom, how can you track an animal in the dark like this?" Robin asked as he silently jogged up to Chrom as they sneaked around the forest floor.

"Easy, find signs and follow them. Just be careful not to step in any."

Robin rolled his eyes for a moment at that comment. Chrom warned him about the obvious, don't step in animal feces. Robin and Chrom walked around for a while before Chrom stopped to inspect some tracks.

"Deer tracks, very fresh," Chrom said to himself as he inspected the deer tracks. Chrom was busy inspecting that when Robin started getting paranoid. Something was looking at them. Chrom was too entranced at sightseeing the deer tracks when Robin pulled out his dagger and nudged Chrom then pointed at what was watching them.

"Chrom...look."

"What is it Robin?" Chrom asked before turning around. He then went wide-eyed and held his hand on his sword. "Robin, no matter what happens, don't-"

Chrom was cut off by a large bear ripping through the foliage of the forest and swiping at the two men with its giant paws. Robin didn't hear the rest of Chrom's instructions and instinctively began a retreat. It was not the smart choice though. The bear pinned him down in moments and was roaring in victory, but it soon fell off of Robin and looked at where its rear end had been.

Chrom raised his sword to the bear panicking over the loss of its hindquarters before humanely finishing the job. He walked over to Robin and helped him up. During that he said, "By the gods you are truly an idiot to even briefly run away from a bear. Luckily it was more attracted to you."

"Yeah, lucky for you."

Chrom laughed at Robin's comment. He then took hold of the bear's torso and began dragging the dead animal back to camp. Robin was less than happy to take the lower half of the bear. When they had returned to camp, a fire was already going and Raven had managed to get Lissa to help her build some makeshift shelters out of leaves and sticks. Once Chrom and Robin had entered with the bear, Raven was laughing herself breathless at the sight of an "arse-less bear" so much that it took her a good five to ten minutes to calm herself down.

The five Shepherds were sitting around the fire either eating their bear or just staring at it questionably.

"Delicious! It's been so long since I've had bear," Chrom stated.

"Chrom, couldn't you have speared us an animal normal people eat?" Lissa asked as she poked at her bear.

"Come on Lissa, everyone loves bear."

"Chrom...you're messing with the food chain," Lissa whined as she tried to avoid eating her bear. She was holding the cooked meat in between her fingers and sniffing it a little.

"Come on Lissa, meat is meat," Chrom said with a laugh at his sister's refusal to so much as lick the bear meat.

"Since when did meat smell like old boots? Wait, I take that back! Boots smell better," Lissa pouted as she set the bear down in her lap and began poking at it again. She turned to Raven to try and get another girl's opinion on the matter of bear, but Raven was happily munching away at her bear. Raven was far too interested in her bear to even notice Lissa. "Well, I guess anyone would be hungry after not eating for days."

"Come milady, every experience makes us stronger, even if we don't enjoy them," Frederick said as he left his bear meat in his lap. He hadn't touched it for the last ten minutes since it was cooked. It had just sat on his lap, probably getting colder by the minute.

"Well why aren't you eating any, Frederick?" Lissa snapped back.

"Well...I..." Frederick said as he quickly tried to come up with an excuse. "I had a rather large lunch. Yes, quite large in fact."

"Yeah right Frederick!" Lissa said while rolling her eyes at Frederick's hypocrisy. After she said that, Chrom and the twins began laughing. They all laughed for a while and chatted before they crawled into the makeshift shelters. They had a long day of marching ahead of them tomorrow. They all had to get some sleep.

* * *

Chrom awoke with no drowsiness to be found in his body. No one was up yet. Even the sound of Frederick's fire was not to be heard. Chrom looked up at the sky and immediately noticed that it was still night. The moon shone brightly in the dark sky and illuminated everything greatly, but something wasn't right. Even though everything around him was normal, Chrom's sixth sense was screaming as if a catastrophe was about to begin.

Chrom crawled out of the makeshift shelter and looked around the camp for a while. Everyone was asleep. Some clearly more peaceful than others, but for the most part everyone was sleeping peacefully.

Unable to sate his unease, Chrom walked around and inspected everything around their campsite. Embers of the fire were burning gently and everything they had was right where it should be. Why did something just feel wrong?

"Chrom?" Lissa asked sleepily as she crawled out of her leaf tent while rubbing her eyes. "Do you even know how late it is?"

"Yes, but I just can't figure it out," Chrom said as he circled the fire while inspecting every little detail. He would've continued if Lissa hadn't grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. What can't you figure out?"

"Something is amiss and I don't know what," Chrom explained. He stopped for a while to think, but he heard something far off to the northwestern forest. It sounded like rumbling, but Chrom also had the feeling that whatever was amiss was off in that direction. "Lissa, I'm going to go for a stroll."

Chrom began walking off, but Lissa just jogged up to him and said, "Oh no! You're acting weird. I'm not letting you wander off into the creepy dark woods without me."

"Alright, but do as I say," Chrom replied quickly. Lissa nodded and ran to grab her staff which was sitting in her shelter. The two walked off into the woods for a while. Chrom couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Lissa's footsteps were slightly reassuring, but it was only minimal reassurance. Eventually they came to a clearing when Lissa stopped.

"Chrom, don't you think it's weird? I don't hear any animals," Lissa stated as she worriedly looked around for some sign of life other than them. She was starting to get freaked out by it because she was clutching her staff to her chest like a stuffed animal.

"Yes...it is, but-" Chrom began before he felt a slight vibration in the earth. He recognized this immediately, but he didn't see a cause for panic yet. That was the case until it started to get worse and worse until Lissa ran to her big brother for safety. After she did that Chrom noticed trees falling and the earth starting to split apart. In that moment he also noticed an orange light coming from the earth slowly. "Lissa, run."

Lissa looked at Chrom in confusion for a moment, but he repeated those words again, but with more intensity as he pushed Lissa into a run. Once he was sure she was running he looked behind him and just as he had expected, the orange light was rising.

Chrom ran just in time. After he began running a wall of flames spewed forth from the ground. The flames came showering down as the siblings ran through the woods. Flames began sprouting up everywhere as balls of fire landed everywhere in the woods.

Chrom and Lissa sprinted through the burning forest in an effort to get away from the raging flames, but with all the flames creating walls of fire and fallen trees it was hard to get through. They eventually made it a safe distance away from the flames, but as Lissa looked back towards the flames her eyes widened as she pointed to the sky saying, "Chrom, what is that?!"

Chrom looked at where Lissa pointed in the sky. Above the flames were little orbs of light quickly gathering in one place. They quickly became a compressed ball of light which exploded in the air to form a magic circle with a line of crystals on it, but the crystal soon parted ways to became a large eye.

For a moment the crystal eye just floated there, but that was quickly disturbed by what appeared to be people coming through the eye. They slid out of the pupil with their mouths agape before falling to the ground face-first. Once they were up, Chrom looked towards them to see in much clearer detail what they were. These weren't human. Their eyes glowed red, their movements were limp, black mist came out of their mouth with every breath, and their purple skin and stitches also made them look like walking corpses. Two of the creatures instantly noticed Chrom and Lissa, they began limping over with their axes dragging on the ground while staring at them.

"Lissa, stay back," Chrom said as he drew Falchion. Lissa backed up from Chrom and one of the walking corpses suddenly looked like it gained a huge adrenaline boost since it suddenly took a combat stance and sprinted at Chrom. Jumping into the air, it aimed to bring its axe down on Chrom, but the blue-haired swordsman pushed himself forward and slashed the side of the creature. Both landed on their feat and a chunk of the creature's side had been taken off, but it turned around its head like an owl while its spine made sickening snapping noises.

Chrom didn't see any sign of pain on its face, it just looked at Chrom with an unchanged blank expression and brought its axe towards Chrom's side, but Chrom was able to catch the axe with his sword. The creature was strong, and Chrom was struggling to hold his own. Chrom lessened his force which drove his sword back, but once it did thar he suddenly unleashed a burst of force onto the creature's axe. It quickly threw the monster back and Chrom kicked it to the ground by hitting its kneecaps as hard as he could. A satisfying snap could be heard in Chrom's ears after that. The monster struggled to stay upright and ended up falling on its stomach where Chrom jumped up into the air and stabbed it in a vital spot. The creature howled in pain and went limp before quickly turning into black mist which faded away quickly.

Chrom stood there looking at where the creature was, but then he heard Lissa scream. He panicked as he turned his head to where she was. A creature was slowly walking up to Lissa who was holding up her staff in an obviously futile effort to protect herself. She was now backed up against a boulder where the creature raised its axe to ready itself for the final blow.

Lissa looked at the eye and noticed a person running through the pupil. They were running unlike those monsters too. Lissa only watched as they jumped out before she closed her eyes and held her staff above her for protection. The sound of steel whistled through the air as it came to claim her life, but rather than the sound of steel splitting flesh the sound of steel grinding steel was heard.

Lissa opened her eyes to see a young man wearing a mask standing right in front of her with a sword held behind his back blocking the axe. His teeth were gritted and he quickly turned to Chrom shouting, "Help!"

Chrom nodded to the man and began charging towards the creature who turned its head in distraction to Chrom. The masked man took this opportunity to throw the creature off balance. In that moment the two swordsmen raised their blades for a strike and simultaneously cut through the creature who stopped for a moment, then disappeared into smoke.

Chrom ran over to Lissa to comfort her, but his attention was quickly brought to the man who had saved Lissa.

"That was quite an entrance, what's your name?"

The man turned around to face Chrom, but it wasn't long before the sound of horse hooves and footsteps was coming through the forest.

"Milord, Milady!" Frederick shouted from atop his horse which was running at full speed to their direction.

"Frederick, great timing! Where is Raven and Robin?" Chrom asked without any hesitation.

"Here!" Robin gasped as he ended up running in from behind Raven. "Are...you...ok?"

"Yes we are, thanks to this man," Chrom replied before turning his head back to where the blue-haired swordsman was, but only to see him gone. Chrom looked around quickly to see him walking towards the fire where the earth had split open. "Hey! Where are you going? It's dangerous over there!"

"I simply need to dispatch of the monsters," the man said before disappearing into the forest. Chrom ordered everyone to follow him and the group made their way through the forest before coming out into an open plain where the monsters were roaming around everywhere.

"Gods, are such horrific creatures commonplace in these lands?" Raven asked as she looked at what could only be described as walking corpses.

"They aren't from Ylisse, I can tell you that," Chrom answered. "Robin, Raven, what do you think?"

"Well..." Raven trailed off so she could buy time. There was little she knew about this enemy, she needed to know how to kill what already looked dead. "Chrom? What was it like fighting them?"

"Odd. They seem to not feel pain and can only be killed by lethal blows. They also turn into smoke when they die. Also, they know how to fight, but they aren't very smart and their skill may be around that of the average soldier."

"I see...so we should avoid making unnecessary hits," Raven said as she thought about it. Then she just realized something. Even though a plain was a great place for a fight, she saw something in the distance. "Hey, over there in the distance. Is that what I think it is?"

"An abandoned fort? Yes. What are you thinking?" Frederick replied.

"Well, if needed people could hole up in the fort to recover, but there is one disadvantage, namely the fact that if only one person goes in, there would be no way to know that they were in trouble. This means that we have ways to recover ourselves in the middle of a battle. It may not be able to heal wounds, but respites can mean the difference between life and death in battle."

"Thanks Raven, do you have any thoughts on the matter, Robin?" Chrom asked so as to make sure everything was fine with both of his tacticians.

"I see no problems there," Robin said with a shrug.

"Very well," Chrom said as he drew his sword. "We'll stick by the fortress in case anything-"

"Captain Chrom!" a voice shouted from the forest. Everyone turned around to see a cavalier woman with red hair and armor riding to the scene with an iron lance in hand. She road just out of the forest and took one good look at the scene before saying, "Gods, I knew I shouldn't of left you guys."

"Milady, wait!" another voice shouted. This voice belonged to a rather well-dressed man with long light blue hair and a bow in hand.

"Who the hell are you?" the red-haired woman asked with a confused look on her face as she looked at the man.

"I am the archest of archers, he whose arrows fly like shooting stars, he who-"

"Just say your damn name!" the cavalier spat at the man who flinched at the sudden outburst, but managed to quickly recover himself. He grinned and flipped his hair dramatically as he gave the cavalier a seductive smile.

"My name is Virion, Archest of Archers, and you my fair lady?"

"It's Sully."

"Ah, Sully, it has such a lovely ring to it. So simple and fitting for a woman of your character."

"Thank you...I guess?" Sully replied with a very confused face. Who was this man and what was his game? He was flirting with her in the middle of a battlefield, or what soon may be a battlefield.

"My dearest Sully. Will you marry me?" Virion asked as he brought himself down onto one knee while cupping his chest with both his hands.

"Ohhhhh, I get it. This is a joke and the punchline is my boot in your face," Sully said with a very unamused expression.

"My what a sense of humor you have, it really adds to your charm whi-" Virion began, but he was swiftly interrupted by a kick to the face and was sent backwards into the ground with his legs at a very awkward position. He did manage to get up though, and it seemed he wasn't done speaking then.

"My, what a feisty one you are, but I love that in a woman as well."

"I think that's enough. Sully, it's good to see you here, but I think we have a much worse problem on our hands regarding the monsters slowly walking towards us after that little scene you just created," Chrom said so as to break the awkward yet humorous situation before him. "And you, I trust ou can fight with that bow?"

"Most certainly sir! I am the archest of archers, my arrows fly with more dazzling flare than the sun itself. I shall-"

"Great, you're in, but stay close to someone. I don't want to be responsible for your death."

Virion answered positive with a face that clearly showed distress of some kind. After a short explanation to Sully and Virion about how these things had to be killed, it was time to engage the enemy.

Robin noticed immediately how unintelligent these creatures were, but what was really unnerving was their lack of emotion or pain. They were good at fighting to say the least, but Robin could easily sever the legs and the creatures would make their way to him by crawling and bite his legs off if they had to.

The creatures were coming in hordes. It was not good. Robin had already begun to receive injuries which were being healed by Lissa, but she could only do so much since people like Raven and Virion had a major disadvantage when the creatures began to horde them.

Virion was doing as he was told and kept his distance as much as possible, but he could only do so much before the creatures slowly began to overwhelm him. If it weren't for Robin, Virion may have succumbed to the horde of walking corpses.

"Thank you good sir, I feared that I would become worm's meat."

"Just focus on covering me," Robin said as he pulled out his tome and sword. He flipped through the spells until he found a standard fire spell. He quickly began shooting balls of fire onto the corpse monsters who may not have burned like tinder, were definitely distracted by the flames burning their faces. With that opportunity given, Virion shot the chests of the creatures and they quickly turned into black smoke.

Robin put his tome away temporarily and drew his sword. He was able to kill some creatures, but Virion did most of the work with highly precise shots killing most of the creatures. On the other hand, Chrom, Sully, and Raven were fairing much better. While Sully had a disadvantage with the axes, her momentum on horseback greatly made up for the disadvantage against axes with her lance. Raven was probably doing the best, mixing magic and sword together to do some devastating attacks. She was using spells to weaken and distract the enemy first before delivering the killing blow with her sword, but once the creatures were close enough even she shed her magic for the sword.

"Retreat! Retreat to the fort," Chrom commanded. Immediately, everyone began fleeing to the fort where Frederick and Chrom held up the entrance while all the ranged units struck from a distance. The monsters came in an endless but light wave until they were all dispatched of. Once they had been dispatched and the fighting was over, dawn was breaking over the horizon and no one was prepared for a long march to Ylisstol, except for Frederick.

"Milord, all the creatures have been disposed of. I believe the young man at the entrance of the fort took care of he rest."

Chrom turned around to see the man who had saved Lissa's life standing there. Now that things had calmed down, Chrom took the opportunity to both thank him and ask an unanswered question.

"Stranger, I thank you for saving Lissa's life. Do you think you could tell me your name?"

"You may call me Marth."

"Marth? After the Hero King of legend? Well you certainly fight like a hero."

"I didn't come here to talk about me. A great power is awakening and seeks only to ruin. Tonight was only a prelude to what is yet to come."

Marth said nothing more and walked away, despite Lissa's best efforts to ask more questions because she was confused. Once Math was clearly out of sight, everyone returned to the matter at hand. It was nearly dawn and they had all just fought a battle.

"We can take a break, but we must be moving before mid-morning," Chrom announced to everyone. Raven and Robin leaned up against each other and slid down to the ground while Lissa inspected everyone's state of health. It turned out that everyone had gotten through without any major injury.

"Question Chrom, how far away is Ylisstol?" Raven asked.

"About four hours by horseback, so I'd say about six to seven hours by walking, so we may arrive in five to six hours."

"Please make the break an hour. I don't know if I can handle walking after that battle. I'm exhausted."

"Then milady have this elixir. It rejuvenates you almost as much as I."

"Thank you Sir Flirtsalot," Raven replied as she snatched the elixir from Virion and took a huge swig before passing it to Robin.

"Sir Flirtsalot? Do you really see my noble self as such a philanderer?"

"Yes I do, you proposed to a woman you just met as if it was nothing," Robin interrupted as he passed the elixir to Chrom.

"Pardon? You think a gentleman of my stature would go around womanizing everyone he lays eyes on?"

"From how you spoke to the cavalier and my sister, yes, I would say so."

"Your sister? So that lovely woman is your sister? I must say you are a very lucky man to have such a charming woman as your kin."

"Here you are Mr. Philander," Lissa said as she handed the bottle of elixir to Virion.

"Thank you milady, your charming-" Virion said as he ignored her insult, but what shocked him most was the fact that all of his elixir was gone. "All of my elixir is gone! What happened to it?!"

"Drunken by everyone who has to walk," Robin said with a smile that clearly showed enjoyment in Virion's misfortune.

"That was a gift! This is normally very expensive. Alas, I shall never find a lady as generous as she."

"Hey! That really hits the spot! I'm ready to march," Raven obviously half-lied. "How is everyone else feeling?"

Everyone except for Virion answered that they were also ready to march.

"It's only been a mere fifteen minutes! I understand my elixir works well...but-"

"No buts, onward!" Raven said in a patronizing tone as she picked herself up and began making her way towards the entrance of the fort.

"Dearest Sully, do you think-"

"No way in hell Ruffles, I'm not sharing my horse with you. If you're really a man worthy of me, you'll just have to walk the whole way."

"Ye gods! It feels like having six new vassals, and the same treatment at that."

* * *

 **Sigh...once again I have no proof-reader. I guess I'll just send out this message. I need a proof-reader who can spot inconsistencies, give good criticisms, spot grammar and sentence structure errors, and on top of it all be able to spot out areas of potential improvement if needed. I just need someone who can do that, and they don't have to be a beta-reader on . I'll happily accept those who would rather use G. Drive.**

 **I'm returning to school, so I won't have as much free time to write, so don't expect another fast chapter release. I'll try o go as fast as I can, but with a Japanese Rosetta Stone as my Christmas present, school, and a slow sink back into youtube** **addiction,** **and an eye to look for good books to improve my writing, I won't guarantee a new chapter coming by the seventh or tenth of January.**

 **As always, if you want to review, please add a criticism or a reason you like the chapter. Also, the first poll to determine pairings is on my profile, so go there to vote for the Raven pairings. (I can already see Chrom. Looks like Raven will soon have the makings of a mary sue. (Obvious joke about the mary sue link to ChromxRobin). Last poll (which was honestly an old one from my first attempt at this story) I saw Chrom win an overwhelming majority, but it also meant no Lucina, but Lucina was the highest M Robin pairs, so I'm going to do two separate polls.**

 **Alright people! You're either a #Lucinaisbestwaifu or #Chrom &Robin4evah this poll for Raven will determine it!**


	3. Chapter 3: Royalty

Looking at it from this angle, Raven and Robin couldn't help feeling intimidated by Ylisstol's large size and walls. They were at the gate where Chrom was speaking with the guards in order to be let in. The twins didn't think it would be short, so they took their time looking at the walls. Large stone walls around nine meters high. Stone seemed solid and well-kept as if the wall was regularly maintained with great care. It made Robin curiously wonder what it would take to penetrate such a wall.

"Come on, let's go inside," Chrom said to Raven and Robin who were admiring the city's walls. Everyone walked through the gates and were greeted with a bustling city with people walking every which way. It seemed crowded, but the twins' eyes grew wide in excitement the moment they laid eyes on the bustling market.

"Wow, I've never seen so many people in one place!" Raven said with glee present on her face. She ran ahead and looked at all of the stalls. Clearly excited, Raven was looking at all sorts of objects. She ended up at a stall with bread and pastries and was staring at a particular pastry in the shape of a rabbit. "It's so cute."

"Is she always like this?" Chrom asked Robin as they watched Raven speak with the shopkeeper of the stall. Robin doubted himself a few times about thinking for an answer, but he shrugged anyway, telling Chrom that he didn't remember anything like this happening with Raven which made Chrom remember that they were amnesiacs.

The Shepherds walked around the market area of the town for a while. As they were doing so, Robin noticed how happy the people seemed to be. There was a young couple flirting, a happy conversation between a stall vendor and a customer, and lots of smiles were present. The entire city seemed to be quite happy. Robin couldn't help but smile himself; it was quite infectious.

"It's very cheerful. Everyone seems well off and happy," Robin said with a smile. He was walking around with Chrom and Virion while Lissa and Raven had fun doing whatever they were doing.

"Indeed," Chrom said with a soft smile. Robin noticed something about Chrom's smile. It seemed to hold a sense of pride in it when Robin made that comment. It wasn't excessive or negative in any way. The sense of pride Robin could observe in Chrom was gentle.

Robin and Virion eventually split from Chrom who had gone to join his sister and Raven. Everyone was browsing different things. Raven and Lissa were far more interested in pastries and Robin was looking at far more different things. As he was shopping, he came across a vendor with various games. They seemed a little dusty and worn, but there was what Virion named as "playing cards" which had cards of many different types and varying number values. There were even cards that were labeled as Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. Virion had bought these cards for Robin and vowed to teach him how to use and play with them.

"Chrom! Try this!" Raven said as she handed a piece of one of her pastries, a cookie, to Chrom. It was in the shape of a woman with long slightly curled hair. She was dressed in robes and had a mark on her forehead, though it was etched in and hard to make out. Raven couldn't tell what it was, but Chrom seemed a little hesitant to take it. Raven had popped off the head and was handing it to Chrom when he ended up dropping it to the ground.

"Sorry Raven," Chrom said rubbing the back of his head.

"No, I'm sorry! I thought you were going to take it. That was me being hasty."

Both of them stopped apologizing to each other for a moment before chuckling. The chuckling easily dissolved the tension and they all continued to walk around. They were walking for a little while before a crowd was gathering as some old man shouted, "Look! The Exalt has come to see us!"

Raven looked to the direction to see a woman with golden locks of curled hair in light green robes walking down the streets with several guards accompanying her and a brand on her forehead. Raven could tell she was important. She new that word though, Exalt. When Raven remembered that the Exalt was Ylisse's ruler, she also had another realization. She had a cookie in the shape of that woman.

"The Exalt is your ruler, yes?" Raven asked whoever was next to her, but to her demise it was Frederick; however, the knight didn't give any sort of bad remark.

"Yes, her name is Lady Emmeryn. At the dawn of our age, the Fell Dragon wished to destroy our world. The first Exalt teamed up with the Divine Dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us of the peace we fought for back then."

"Well, she certainly looks serene. The people must be lucky to have her," Raven said smiling. She observed Emmeryn speak with some commoners and even give them blessings. The guards didn't seem too concerned, but they nonetheless were as aware they could be.

"She's also the best big sister ever!" Lissa said with joy. At those words, Robin immediately caught onto what she said. He didn't panic though. If they were the Prince and Princess, they surely would ask for different behavior, right? Chrom and Lissa didn't look the part of Prince and Princess of such a kingdom. Frederick would fit the bill for a knight, yes, and it would explain his behavior to these two.

"Yes, I'm sure she's-" Raven began before she stopped mid-sentence and opened her eyes wide as an owl's. "Wait...but wouldn't that make you guys the…" Raven said, a little too stunned to finish the last words.

"The Prince and Princess of this realm? Yes. You remember Chrom's name but not this?" Frederick said with a laugh. Raven looked from Emmeryn to a smiling Lissa several times before a certain thought popped into her mind. She had been both extraordinarily rude and vulgar to royalty.

"Chrom-I mean Prince Chrom!" Raven said in panic as she hurriedly corrected herself and kneeled down to a bow. "Forgive my dreadful manners!"

Such a scene did not go unnoticed. Robin stayed calm and just watched the scene unfold. Chrom was looking around at all the people staring at him as he blushed in some embarrassment.

"Raven, it's fine! I've never been much with formalities, so please raise your head," Chrom said in a slightly panicked tone. Lissa giggled at the sight. She clearly found it entertaining. Frederick just stood there with a grin on his face. Raven raised her head and stood up and brushed her cloak and pants off.

"The Prince and Princess, huh? That would explain why Frederick tolerates all the teasing," Robin said half to himself.

"Indeed. Oh the sacrifices I make for the good of this realm," Frederick said in a frustrated tone out loud. Rather than offend the royal siblings, it just made them laugh. That must have been quite interesting relationship. Robin watched as Raven tried to shake off the shock of Chrom and Lissa being royalty. She was stuttering and trying to find out how she should speak, but it just ended up with Chrom repeating himself about formalities.

Once the group had settled down, Chrom looked towards where Emmeryn was and noticed her guards to the rear walking back to the palace. Perhaps this would be a good time to go back. It would probably please Frederick too. The stern lieutenant wasn't a fan of walking around Ylisstol to begin with. Chrom turned to Raven and asked, "Emm's going back to the palace, would you like to meet her?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Raven yelled with excitement. Chrom then turned to Robin who gave a nod. With approval from his tacticians, Chrom made the announcement to the group that they would head to the palace.

Robin looked around the palace grounds with great admiration. They had just started up the hill after making their way through the gates of the palace. Robin thought that a castle atop a large hill was very impressive for many reasons. While they were mostly tactical, he also liked the aesthetic feel of it. A few wooded areas laid around the hill within the palace's protective walls which Robin liked quite a bit. The plains and small wooded areas complimented each other nicely. Perhaps he could have a picnic out there one day.

Once the Shepherds had reached the palace, Sully and Virion parted ways from the group so Robin, Chrom, Lissa, Raven, and Frederick could go meet Emmeryn. The gang approached a large wooden door where Chrom merely opened the door without knocking. Everyone followed Chrom's lead past the door and found themselves in an office where Emmeryn was sitting at a desk with a pegasus knight with white hair standing by the Exalt.

Emmeryn looked up calmly from her desk and give a radiant smile as she stood up and walked over to Chrom and Lissa saying, "Chrom, Lissa, welcome home. I hope your journey fared well for you."

"Yes it did, Emm," Chrom said while addressing his elder sister casually. "The brigands crossed over from Plegia, but we were able to subdue them before any serious harm was done."

"Forgive me milord," the white-haired knight said while giving a deep bow of apology. "My pegasus knights should have intercepted them."

"No Phila, your place was here with the Exalt," Chrom retorted kindly. He didn't accept the apology. He made it clear that he didn't deserve it in those sentences. Phila rose from her bow and looked at Chrom, expecting him to say something, and he did indeed say something. Chrom smiled and said, "That's why I created the Shepherds Phila. I am honored you wish to lighten my burden, but this is the job I chose. Please, don't apologize."

"Yes, Prince Chrom," Phila said with a quick salute. She stepped back and allowed the conversation to continue between the Shepherds and Exalt Emmeryn.

"The brigands were surprisingly organized. I think many of them were Plegian soldiers. The leader, on the other hand, seemed to be a bona fide brigand. They were burning the town by the time we made it and had established themselves at a bridge as a chokepoint," Chrom explained. He certainly spoke all the important points, so there really wasn't anything for the Exalt to question as she looked at the various Shepherds in her office. Even Frederick stayed silent as a statue when their gazes met.

"That certainly sounds like quite the ordeal. I'm glad all of you escaped unharmed."

"Well we had plenty of help!" Lissa exclaimed as she turned her head to the twins.

"I take it you speak of your new companions?" Emmeryn asked kindly as she turned a smiling face to Robin and Raven, but she quickly turned her head over to Chrom when he decided to speak.

"Yes, these are Robin and Raven. They're amnesiacs who have a great talent in strategy with more than competent swordplay and magic. I've decided to take these two in as the Shepherds strategists."

"And you let them into the palace, so you must trust them very much," Emmeryn said as she lowered her hands in front of her to speak to the two. She was once again interrupted by someone. This time it was Frederick.

"We cannot also rule out that they are spies. These two know Chrom's name for some reason, and they could not remember their own name then. For some reason, they quickly remembered their own names."

"Frederick!" Chrom snapped immediately. Chrom seemed ready to criticize Frederick heavily, but Emmeryn suddenly raised her voice for just a moment, making everyone in the room, even Frederick, snap their heads to her direction from her sudden outburst.

"Chrom!" Emmeryn shouted briefly with a stern look on her face, but she immediately calmed herself down and calmly said, "Frederick, thank you for your prudence as always."

Frederick bowed deeply with an unchanged expression, but as he looked at Emmeryn, one would wonder if he had regretted anything. After Frederick gave his bow, Emmeryn turned her face to Chrom and once again asked, "Chrom, do these two have your trust?"

"They risked their own lives to save Ylissean lives and my own in the face of Plegian Bandits. They have my absolute trust for that," Chrom said to defend Robin and Raven.

"Well then, it seems Ylisse owes you a great debt," Emmeryn said with a warm smile as she turned her gaze to Raven and Robin.

"I-It was nothing your highness!" Raven said bashfully as she bowed clumsily. Emmeryn gave a giggle at this. Raven immediately blushed as she looked down at the floor, not wanting to look at anyone.

"Be at ease Raven, so long as Chrom trusts you, I shall place as much trust as I can in you two as well."

"Thank you, your highness," Robin said with a calm tone as he gave a bow to Emmeryn. Raven looked down in embarrassment and shield her eyes away from Emmeryn who gave an amused smile to the bashful woman. Over on the side now, Frederick was talking with Phila. The two were actually exchanging information about the monsters, but Raven was the only one at the moment who noticed.

"Emm, on our way back we encountered some...monsters," Chrom said as he struggled for a moment exactly what to call the creatures.

"So you've encountered them?" Phila asked. "There have been recent reports of them from all over Ylisse."

"Chrom, we're going to be holding a war council about these creatures. It would be very much appreciated if you would join us," Emmeryn said to Chrom. Chrom agreed and Lissa turned to the twins.

"Well, that's our cue. Come on I have something fun to show you!" Lissa said to Robin and Raven before running out of the room. Robin walked out and looked in both directions to see Lissa several meters down the hall shouting "Hurry up!"

Robin didn't understand where they were going, because as they walked through the castle, he realized they were going back through where they came from. They were winding back through the halls, but even Raven seemed to catch on to the familiarity of her surroundings. This was then questioned directly to Lissa when they finally found themselves outside.

"Lissa, where are we going?" Robin finally asked as the three walked through the grounds of the castle.

"You'll see," Lissa said as she swung open a door. They were now somewhere between the walls and the inner sections of the castle. She walked into the area which had a wooden floor in the interior with stone walls. Inside was a table where a few people were congregating around.

All eyes were on Lissa as she gazed back to the twins and said, "Tadaaa! The Shepherd's Garrison. Make yourselves at home, we have plenty of empty rooms."

"Oh, so you've found the place, took ya long enough," Sully said with a mug in her hands. She didn't say anything else and continued to take a drink. Robin and Raven took the time to look around. It was a rather old looking garrison. Which was rather odd considering who ran the place. Old wooden bars lined the ceiling and the brick was old. Robin even noticed a rotten floorboard.

Lissa noticed their reactions, but before she could speak a voice called out to her. A rather well-dressed woman with large curls began running up to Lissa and gave her a great big hug while exclaiming, "Lissa my treasure! I'm so glad to see you're safe. You didn't suffer any injuries did you? My goodness your hair is so dirty. You poor thing."

"Maribelle I'm fine. A little dirt never hurt me before."

"Um…" a voice said shortly behind Maribelle. Another woman, this time with long light brown hair walked in. She looked rather timid by nature, and she was clad in pink armor that clearly stated her as a mounted rider due to its light nature. "Is the captain here?"

"Sorry Sumia, Chrom's busy with Emmeryn and Phila in a conference," Lissa explained, but she was still grinning before she ran up to Raven and Robin to grab their hands and raise them high into the air. "May I present our new tacticians! Robin and Raven. They did great! They can do so much!"

"Oh yeah?" a shirtless blonde man aggressively asked, slamming down his mug before releasing a very large belch. "Can they do that? Not even Chrom can top ol' teach at that!"

"Teach now, is it?" Lissa said with a devious grin. "Well Vaike, I'm sure you'll be great at teaching people how to forget things."

"Hey!" Vaike remarked with an angry face, only to have Lissa burst out in laughter. Raven laughed with her and bowed to Vaike.

"I'm sure we have much to learn of the belching arts, O teach," Raven said sarcastically. Robin grinned at this. What a lot of change this was. It was funny to think, he had no memory yet he already had a place in this world. Though, he did wonder what he was going to do, a purpose was handed to him already, but he wondered if this would be right for him. While he felt he belonged, a nervous itch was forming on his left hand.

"Ugh! What an abhorrent sight!" Maribelle shouted. She then looked at Raven and with a harsh voice said, "And you, don't encourage him! A lady shouldn't be caught up in such...obscene affairs."

Raven gave a glare to Maribelle, she was about to open her mouth when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Raven looked over to see Robin. He walked forward and stared at Maribelle. He then took a deep breath and said, "I don't exactly know you and neither does my sister. I must ask that you leave us out of your personal matters."

Maribelle stood there for a small while as if she had just been slapped across the face, but after five seconds her entire head began turning red with anger and she marched over to Robin and pointed a finger into his face. Robin backed up a few centimeters where he bumped into Raven who shoved him back a little bit. Now Maribelle's finger was just between his two eyes and he could barely see it.

"What was that? Do you know who you're addressing?!" Maribelle yelled with her head down and staring up into Robin's eyes like a predator. She noticed Robin's very confused and nervous look before backing away and turning her head with a very loud "hmph" before walking towards the door. Before Maribelle closed it she stared back at the twins and stated, "I had hoped you two were made of finer cloth!" A loud slam resounded throughout the hall and a lance dropped to the ground nearby. The twins looked towards it, but they didn't notice anything. A suit of armor and a lance on the floor was all they saw before looking back towards Lissa and the rest.

"Oh...sorry about that…" Lissa apologized with a rather guilty look on her face. "Maribelle is rather...eccentric. She's a good person though, I swear it!"

Robin forgave Lissa and Maribelle, but Raven crossed her arms and continued to glare at the door. This was interrupted by the entrance door opening. Chrom walked into the room with a rather serious look on his face. Frederick accompanied him and was about to say something when Chrom held him back.

"Oh, C-Captain!"

Everyone turned their heads towards the source of the voice. Sumia stood with her papers and began running towards Chrom, but she tripped on a pebble and tried to catch herself by spinning, but Sumia ended up falling flat on her back with her papers flying into the air like confetti. She looked up to see Chrom kneeling down towards her face.

"Sumia, are you alright?"

The moment Sumia looked up her face flushed a deep red. After holding back a scream, the pegasus knight stuttered in her reply, "I-I'm fine!"

After Chrom helped Sumia up to her feet, Raven and Robin looked at each other and each gave a mischievous grin. They were thinking the same thing. The thought was interrupted by Chrom speaking though.

"Alright everyone, we have a mission coming up the day after tomorrow. We're heading to Regna Ferox for diplomatic matters. This mission is strictly voluntary, so anyone wh-"

"Count teach in. You'll need good ol' Vaike and his trusty axe!"

"Count me in, you'll need me going up there," Lissa's enthusiastic voice rang out.

"Me as well," a calm voice said right behind Robin who turned around startled to see a large man in bulky plate armor merely a meter behind him. He looked at the face of a terrified Robin and said, "What? I've been here the whole time."

Robin was about to say something, but a quiet voice saying "umm…." caught everyone's attention. The girl named Sumia was looking rather conflicted on the whole matter.

"Do you want to go, Sumia?" Chrom asked the brunette who then looked up at Chrom with eyes widened in surprise.

"A-Are you sure? I'm afraid I'll just get in the way…" Sumia muttered under her breath.

"You could just watch from behind the front lines, get a feel for what true battle taste like. I'm sure the experience will be reassuring in the future," Chrom said in a rather kind voice which gave Robin a small spark in his eyes which Raven looked concerningly at.

* * *

 **WOW! I have been inactive for a long time, but with summer on the horizon and Highschool FINALLY coming to an end permanently, I may have a lot more time. I plan to take a creative writing class in College, so expect a jump in quality within the next 4 years.**

 **That being said, I am glad to be returning to this. I thought the whole of Awakening's story had a great deal of potential. I may not post for a while because I will have to replay the game. Anyhow, this chapter took WAAAAAY to much back burner time. My finals are over the next 4 days, so see you in June!**


	4. Chapter 4: Ylisstol

Robin awoke to the light from the window hitting his eyes. He turned his sore back around on the old bed and looked over to the other side of the room. Raven's cloak sat on the floor with the rest of her bed an absolute mess. A big smile of comfort with drool dribbling down was barely snoring was resting on Raven's face. In contrast to his sister's side, Robin walked over to where his cloak was neatly hung up and donned it before exiting the room. The door creaked loudly and Robin looked back to Raven who just moved a leg off the bed and scratched her belly while muttering, "Yesh, I'd like anovfter abble."

Once the door hit, Raven's body was awoken by her falling out of her bed. Her groggy eyes slowly began to take in the light while her body was kept decently warm by the covers falling with her to the floor. Her mind was still hazy from the dream, but Raven didn't feel like getting up. She rested her forehead to the floor and tried to take a nap.

After about five minutes Raven finally managed to get out of her awkward position. Raven walked to the door, leaving her cloak on the floor. Outside in the main room of the barracks, some of the Shepherds were gathered around a table. Chrom and Lissa were nowhere to be seen, but Raven thought as much. They were royalty, so they must have beds much nicer.

There was little smell from the table, but there was food sitting on the table. It was mostly a collection of bread and cheese. Hardly any meat was on the table, which made little sense to Raven since this was the garrison of the Prince's little militia corps. Someone had to be upset for only this rundown hole of a garrison to be open. A simple tomato soup was also sitting in a pot, still hot too. Raven took a few ladles into her bowl, broke apart the bread which was fairly stale, and dropped the cheese in after tearing the fermented milk into chunks. After stirring for a few minutes a rather strange soup concoction was born.

Raven took a sip with her spoon which held some bread and cheese chunks in it. There were some eyes staring at her, so when Raven rotated her eyes to meet the other person's to see a rather surprised-looking Sumia now smiling awkwardly at Raven. Raven wasn't too surprised; her hair was a mess and undone, the eyes were still tired and grumpy, and Raven's over-all dress for the morning was merely her shirt.

"I guess you aren't much of a morning person…" Sumia commented when Raven went back to her soup. Raven looked back at Sumia for a few seconds. Sumia wasn't wearing her armor and instead wore a simple dress with a light brown tint. The hair also wasn't done, but unlike Raven's the hair was neatly brushed and there was no dirt or fatigue on Sumia's face. Even Sumia's eyes were pristine for someone in the morning. Sumia's face growing more nervous made Raven realize what kind of jealousy she had been showing on her's and shook her head a little bit.

"No, I don't think I am...but the bed was pretty uncomfortable. Do you have to sleep on such things every night?" Raven answered while offering an inquire of her own. Sumia took a moment to think, her face gazing skyward. Raven took three more bites or sips in the time it took Sumia to gather her thoughts.

"Not unless you buy your own. The beds given are old and we never expect guests. I'm surprised the captain didn't give you a guest room in the palace," Sumia answered. Raven was already chowing down on the soup mixture when she did answer and gave a chuckle. Raven looked up briefly, so Sumia asked, "Is it good that way? I personally never thought to try it."

"Great. The aroma of the cheese is great with the tomato. Not to mention that the bread softens and absorbs the flavor. Although, the taste seems rather unfamiliar…" Raven remarked with her voice trailing off at the last sentence.

"Well you don't remember anything...right?" Sumia cautiously questioned. Raven shook her head and continued staring up.

"It's kind of like...I remember tastes, actions, how to speak, my name, and some of my behaviors...but anything else I can't seem to place my finger on. It's almost like...the memories are jumbled and unreadable. As if you gave a yearling a pencil and asked them to write your biography...something weird like that."

"That sounds scary…" Sumia remarked with concern as she stared at Raven. The atmosphere grew awkward fast, but then the door to outside opened and Lissa walked right on in, fully dressed in her frilly little outfit.

"Gods Raven, you look like you tried to wrangle a pegasus instead of sleep…" Lissa's snarky voice commented. Raven glared at Lissa and gave a sarcastic "good morning" while adding princess to the end with spite attached to it. Those words made Lissa reconsider what she had said. "Sorry Raven, I didn't think about how bad the beds were."

"Yeah, and what are you doing out of yours, Princess Lissa?" Raven asked in a slightly venomous tone which implied jealousy to Lissa's standing.

"Yeah, ouch, Raven," Lissa added before deciding to answer the question. "Emmeryn and Chrom get up early, so it gets rather lonely up there. The servants and maids are nice...but they're always so polite and distant. Chrom's ordering up preparations for our mission to Regna Ferox."

Sumia seemed slightly disheartened by such words, but Raven clapped her hands together in excitement with wide eyes. In an instant she had everyone's attention and said, "Then let's go see the city! Maybe I can get something comfier for tonight!"

"Do you have any money…?" Sumia worriedly asked which made Raven slam her hand down on the table in frustration, but her eyes widened again and she pointed to Lissa.

"If you want to apologize buy me a mattress!"

Lissa was about to open her mouth, but before she could another door opened and in the frame stood Virion who dramatically flipped his long hair. He gave a pose which clearly stated him trying WAY too hard to be sexy which automatically turned everyone in the room off.

"Perhaps if milady, Lissa, wishes not to I'LL buy you such an item of the highest quality if my name isn't-" Virion began, but one look at Raven's morning state sent his face into a brief shock which ticked Raven off a little bit. Virion caught himself a moment and tried to smooth it over with, "W-Well maybe we ought to...go to the spa first?"

The last sentence pissed Raven off to no end. Her veins were practically popping out, but Raven unexpectedly smiled warmly at Virion and replied with, "That would be so nice of you, Virion."

Lissa and Sumia collectively sighed in relief at the catastrophe avoided and everyone in the room exchanged an awkward laugh.

Robin walked into the room to see Lissa in shock with her hand over her mouth and Sumia trembling at one end of the table. Raven stormed out moments later and began yelling at some unfortunate soul, asking where the washrooms were. Robin looked to where a terrified Virion was crouched up in a fetal position with his back facing Robin.

"Um..." Robin approached the trembling man with confusion. When he did, Virion turned around with teary eyes holding his head where on the forehead area was a rather large three centimeter diameter bump and a red cheek.

"I forgot the first rule of roses...all colors, even black, are beautiful, but never forget the thorns. NEVER forget the thorns..." Virion sobbed.

"Serves ya right Ruffles!" Sully shouted from a doorway. Robin turned to her for answers. When Sully explained how Virion acted, Robin sighed with disappointment and spent the rest of the time waiting for Raven as he comforted Virion. When Raven finally returned, her hair and face were cleansed. Raven's black hair had been tied up into her ponytail, so when she returned from the room Robin and Raven had slept in, the sister looked complete with her cloak over her arms and shoulders.

After a round of half-hearted apologies from Raven, things began to return to normal. Raven revealed her plan to go through the city with Robin and everyone except Sully were out of the palace. The stroll out of the palace grounds had been enough to wake up Raven and return her to a cheerier mood.

Lissa and Sumia were guiding the group around the city, and the cheer that had been in the town yesterday was still present in the morning. Despite all the liveliness, a loud yawn escaped Robin. Raven turned to her brother to ultimately comment, "Last night didn't treat either of us well, did it."

Robin silently agreed. Not only was his back in disarray, he swore he had woken up many times in the night. Raven was similar, but the female tactician wasn't really a morning person as far as she knew; Raven knew very little about even herself in that regard.

Raven looked around the city. Although there were many people, not many of them paid a lot of attention to the people walking around with their princess in tow. Raven had seen very little of this yesterday. A huge crowd had briefly gathered to see the Exalt yesterday, but when Lissa came down not much fuss was made. Some people made knowing glances, yet no one made even a small fuss about Lissa walking around the cobbled roads of the city. Even Emmeryn had a number of guards with her.

"Lissa, may I ask something?" a self-conscious Raven prodded. Lissa curiously turned her face to Raven to say she was all ears, so Raven took a deep breath to say what she needed to. "I seem to notice a significant difference in reactions from people...uh….compared to Emmeryn that is."

Lissa's normally cheery smile suddenly had a more somber feeling about it. Raven was about to apologize when Lissa defied Raven's expectations and calmly answered, "I was never really allowed to leave the palace much. Besides, I'm not very lady-like compared to Emm. She's so beautiful, graceful, and kind; I could never compete with her…" Raven decided to say nothing to that response and the walk continued on in silence.

"Ah there it is," Sumia pointed out with a grin. "Bardok's Thread and Needle." The response made Raven look up from the ground to see a sign saying just that with a yarn ball and needle thread sitting on it. The building was two-stories tall sitting right next to a few other shops. The first person to walk out of the shop was a rather dressed up lady with hair tied up in intricate knots. This woman was also wearing purple on her outfit, so she must have been a lady of the court. It was odd considering that there was a common pub across the street, a tanner shop, and an apothecary shop that the target destination sat between.

The noblewoman noticed Lissa and began a frantic and deep curtsy while saying, "A very fine morning to you, you're highness. What are you here to have Bardok make for you?"

"I'm getting some bedding made. Raven and Robin here need some comfy pillows," Lissa explained with a joyous smile on her face. The noblewoman looked at Lissa oddly before giving back her well-tempered smile.

"Well, I bid you good day. I'm sure Mr. Bardok can provide what you need. He always does...but please clarify one thing for me, Princess Lissa." Lissa gave the noble permission with a nod. "Please clarify which one is Robin, or is he not present?"

* * *

" _I'm lost…"_ Robin's internal voice said to himself. The bustling people were probably too busy to take time out of their day to help him. The young man was stuck in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. For all they knew, him standing there was no cause for alarm. Robin couldn't stay in one place though, for he thought walking was the best choice. Robin walked around Ylisstol without any knowledge of where he was going, but it was a nice experience. The thoroughfare Robin was in had very little poverty, so he felt safe. Shops and houses littered the area, so as Robin walked through the city for quite a while before anything actually interesting happened.

Robin was looking the other direction towards a church of some kind. For whatever reason, the church made him uneasy or just pissed him off for some unknown reason. Many people went in and out of the church area. Some were sick, some were injured, and some looked just fine.

Suddenly, Robin felt a large mass fly into him. In moments he was on his back and something was on top of him. Robin looked up to where a small bear-shaped sucker nearly scared him half to death if Robin didn't already know what a bear looked like. On top of the tactician was a ginger-haired man with a stick poking out of his mouth and some rather dirty clothes with a large scarf.

"Ugh, sorry about that. You alright there?" the man questioned Robin. The ginger man smelled like sugar, so Robin was eager to get out from under him. When the mystery man recognized that he hopped off of Robin and repeated his question.

"No worse since yesterday. What was that about anyway?" Robin answered while rubbing his head and trying to straighten his cloak which only made his hands dirty from pushing the sticky man off. "Oh for the love of-! Were you bathing in honey? My hand got dirty..."

Robin noticed a small satchel in the ginger man's hand who only promptly hid it in a pocket. The ginger man gave a half-hearted sorry then offered a handkerchief to Robin. Robin handed it back, commenting on how sticky even the handkerchief was.

"Look Bubbles, I don't know what you want from me. I was running from some nasty acquaintances, so don't get your hopes up. I want to apologize, but decide something if nothing I have on me will please ya," the Ginger man said to reply to Robin's early question.

"Well...I am kind of lost, so I need to find a group I was with," Robin replied with an awkward grin plastered onto his face.

"That's more service than payment Bubbles. If you want a service you should pay up. The only ones to give services for free are the priests and their high up gods. Church is over there," the sticky man explained. Robin looked over to the church and squinted his eyes. He really did not want to go in there.

"Yeah...I don't feel like going in that church. It makes me uneasy, and I don't know why. Besides, you're willing to give me some form of payment, yet I couldn't use that payment for a favor? You sure know how to walk your way around NOT keeping material possessions," a smirking Robin said to jab at the mysterious man who gave a rather annoyed look to Robin. The ginger man gave a click of whatever was in his mouth and sighed in defeat to Robin's words.

"You have a sharp gnoggin there, Bubbles. So who is it you're looking for, they aren't dangerous...right?" the sticky ginger man asked with a tone of concern. Robin couldn't really understand the man's situation, but the sticky man was listening quite well as Robin described the party of a brunette in a dress who tripped a lot and a woman with a large quantity of black hair who was wearing the same cloak as Robin.

"Say, what's your name? It might be confusing to not have one for you," Robin asked while the duo navigated the city. Robin had noticed that the man was taking turns to leave the eyesight of patrols, but Robin didn't feel especially endangered by the man. Much to Robin's dismay, whatever memory that was allowing the man to make Robin feel so secure was gone or incomprehensible.

"Um...what do you wanna call me, Bubbles? I'm not really in the city today to make friends," the Ginger man replied before pulling out a sucker from a pocket after spitting out the stick of the other. Robin gave it a little bit of thought, but a light bulb flashed.

"How about Sticky? I feel like that suits you well," Robin replied with a very humored grin on his face. The man now named Sticky looked at Robin with a death glare briefly before turning away.

"Go ahead, I won't deny that it suits me," Sticky said with a rather pissed off tone which only made Robin's grin grow wider. After about forty minutes, the two were sitting on a bench in the main plaza. As Robin looked at the sky with a very thoughtful expression carved into his face, Sticky began reaching towards Robin's waste only to find an empty pocket and an empty belt which made Sticky whisper, "This lout doesn't have a purse…"

"Huh?" Robin's voice said as he turned to meet a now tense Sticky sitting in the seat beside him. "I was distracted, did you have something to say?"

"Nothing really…" Sticky half-heartedly replied before turning his eyes over towards a group of soldiers and standing up. Robin asked what was going on, but all the ginger man would say was, "Look Bubbles, me and soldiers don't get along, so I'm going to have to leave you. Although...I'll say look around this plaza." With those last words, the man was off into the crowd. Robin wondered for a moment what allowed such a man to blend into his surroundings so quickly.

Robin turned his head around the Plaza until a familiar black cloak with a purple pattern caught his eye. Robin didn't waste a moment and began running towards Raven. When he caught Raven's attention, her first reaction was to issue a sigh of relief with a smile. Robin's smile fell when Raven's head lifted to reveal a very peeved face.

"Where the hell were you?!" Raven shouted close to the top of her lungs. This drew more than a few eyes, but the only one to take notice was Sumia. Sumia's head turned around nervously a little before trying to calm down Raven. Sumia's efforts only managed to make Raven lower her voice to appropriate levels when she next opened her mouth.

"I can't believe this...just what made you stray from the group?" Raven asked with a hand on her forehead in disappointment. Robin thought back on what had indeed caught his attention enough, and when he combed his memory he could only find a fuzzy memory that had briefly taken over to guide him off towards the direction of the church for some reason. When Robin relayed this to his sister, Raven's expression darkened greatly. The look on Raven's face reminded Robin of a ghost for some reason.

"Um...maybe we should go back…?" Sumia's cautious voice split apart the tense air between the two, but not for long. Much of the walk back was very awkward and accompanied by silence.

When the trio returned to the shop, Lissa was waiting outside with Virion, a choice which may have seemed terrible, but Lissa's peachy smile still had enough energy to wash away the twins' troubles and worries. Lissa explained that the bedding would be ready when they returned from Ferox. It was also mentioned that Bardock would have them delivered to the palace. The area such a shop was in confused Robin a little bit who decided to ask about it.

"Lissa, why did we come all the way here to get something? Couldn't the palace have spared some bedding and pillows rather than make them from scratch?"

Lissa turned to Sumia for an explanation, so the brunette turned to Robin with a kind smile and explained, "Well, Robin, Bardock is quite a famous needle-worker. Lots of Lords, Ladies, and even Royals will visit the shop as regularly as commonfolk to have something made. It's just in this area because Mr. Bardock is so humble."

Robin took in the information from the clumsy girl and nodded to show he understood. Raven, on the other hand, was annoyed about how long it would take for new bedding to be made. She was reassured by Lissa that she would try to get some spare beds from the palace. After that heated conversation was averted, the whole group decided to return to the palace before mid-afternoon. The whole journey back was met with Raven constantly making sure her brother stayed ahead of her. Commonly it ended with Raven pushing Robin forward with a fairly forceful nudge.

Early afternoon had set in when the whole group returned to the palace. Raven was drained and immediately dropped down onto the courtyard grass outside the Shepherds' garrison. The day was nice, until a shadow began looming over the sun which was warming Raven's body. Peeking one eye open, Raven noticed a large figure in heavy blue cavalry armor with a rather upset face.

"Oh...hi there Frederick," Raven said with little enthusiasm present in her voice. Her face was twisted into a rather nervous one due to the fact that Frederick was looking rather stern, angry even. After a few moments of awkward silence, Frederick asked Raven to stand up; Raven complied to thirty seconds after he asked because of the stern knight's ever harsh and growingly intense glare. "So...what is it?"

"It is my understanding you took Princess Lissa to the city today."

"Yes…" Raven answered with a flat voice devoid of judgement or emotion. She was curious to see where this went, though one could take a few guesses since Frederick's expression began to sharpen.

"You did this without notifying Chrom, Emmeryn, any palace personel, or I?"

"...Yes."

"Are you aware of the dangers outside the palace for royalty?"

"Yes…?"

Frederick took a deep breath with his eyes closed for a few seconds after. Raven's face was growing increasingly nervous, so when Frederick swiftly opened his eyes and his expression the harshest Raven had ever seen it.

"Do you take Lady Lissa's safety so lightly?!" were the first words Frederick shouted at a very high volume which made Raven instinctively step back a few, but that action only made Frederick step forward. "What if she had tripped on a pebble, been trampled by a stray wagon horse, or even gotten lost?! Are you even aware of such dangers?!"

Frederick's barrage kept moving Raven closer and closer to a wall, but his wording seemed rather...odd. Raven's first thought would be thugs and petty assassination attempts, but to her surprise, Frederick was more worried about much different threats.

"Jeez Frederick, calm down! Nothing like that happened today. Besides, the one who got lost today was Robin," Lissa yelled at Frederick who stopped to turn around. This gave Raven a golden opportunity to retreat over towards Sumia. "You really need to stop being so overprotective."

"That is my duty, Milday. Your safety is the utmost priority of mine; it was what I was assigned for after all. Unless you have Milord Chrom or Her Highness Emmeryn's permission, I cannot allow you to wander around wherever you please with strangers."

Lissa's face turned fuming red and she was about to open her mouth wide when someone from a doorway to the palace shouted, "Gods, you're both acting like children!"

Chrom was walking into the courtyard with 'I'm pissed' apparently written all over his face. Frederick was about to open his mouth in protest when Chrom stopped him to say, "Frederick, I heard everything. I trust Robin and Raven, I have to, now that they're our tacticians. It's fine to be skeptical, but your habit of over-compensating for everything you do isn't going to make it better."

Frederick bowed to Chrom with an unchanged expression and said, "Very well Milord, I will overlook this incident today. I shall take my leave, there are other matters at hand that need my attendance before we begin our trip."

Once Frederick left, Chrom gave a very hefty sigh and placed his hand on his forehead before leaning against a wall. Raven took the opportunity to go up to Chrom and thank him. The thanks was received with very low enthusiasm present in Chrom's tone of voice.

"Owch brother, it looks like you have a long day," Lissa stated out loud with a rather empathetic look on her face. Chrom nodded and took a minute to stare at the sky before pushing himself off the wall and addressing those that were there. Virion and Sumia had parted from the group, which left only Robin, Raven, Chrom, and Lissa in the same general area by the Shepherds' Garrison.

After Chrom was done with his little cooldown he turned to those remaining and asked, "To make up for you two sleeping in the Garrison, why not join me and Lissa for lunch?"

Chrom could tell immediately what Raven was thinking, her mouth was already dripping with drool which gave Chrom a refreshed grin. It was nice to have a positive presence other than Lissa around. Chrom did take a notice to Robin chuckling at his sister which made Raven look at Robin with a blush after she realized what was happening and gave him a flick to the forehead. Much more minor than some of Raven's other actions really.

Chrom and Lissa showed Raven where they ate. It was a rather large round table with a very elegant set of silverware, plates, candles, and various other dishes. Half of the miscellaneous dishes and utensils scattered around the table were rather foreign to Robin who was picking one up after the other and asking Lissa what they were used for. While Lissa was answering with a smile on her face, Raven was picking out various things like biscuits, cheese, and even poured herself some tea quickly. When the teacup came to Raven's lips, she began scrunching her face from displeasure.

"What's wrong Raven? Did you not like the black tea?" Chrom asked curiously to the woman who barely managed to swallow her cup. With a scrunched up face and tightly closed eyes, Chrom noticed that she was kind of cute when in such a state.

"It's bitter," Raven stated after giving a bleh when she managed to down it. "I think this is the first time I've had tea so bitter seeing as how I really don't like it."

Lissa turned around after helping Robin organize a plate of his own and pushed some cookies to Raven's direction and said, "Here, try having something sweet with it."

When Raven did as Lissa advised, she began eating the little cookies with a sip of black tea in order to get rid of her cup and instead decided to pour some milk, after requesting some from a servant.

The rest of lunch lasted well into late afternoon as the four began talking about various subjects from strategy to making fun of Frederick. Chrom felt his stress melt away when he talked with either of the twins about a mundane subject. It was a nice change from a day of preparing, but with them he felt a lot better about going on the mission to Ferox tomorrow.

* * *

 **Alright...so after some thought to pairings, I'm posting an edited poll for Robin. I decided Raven's pairing for narrative purposes, but that's not going to be revealed until later. I also decided Sumia's pairing, so she's being taken off of Robin's pairing poll which should be somewhere...same place as last.**

**On other notes, I'm finally getting back to this proper. Expect steadier chapter releases (hopefully). I'm not gonna take a beta reader for now due to simple reasons. Also, my dog's sick. He was bloated last night, so I'm a bit worried about my 11 year old puppy. I'm also looking to start playing more FE games. particularly I might be looking to FE4, finish FE7, and Radiant Dawn. If I follow through there, I will be adding more easter eggs.**


End file.
